Noun/pronoun asymmetry in Polish: Against the nominal perspective and the DP-hypothesis

2020 ◽  
Vol 56 (1) ◽  
pp. 35-82
Author(s):  
Rafał Jurczyk
Keyword(s):  
Word Order ◽  
Order Property ◽  
The Asymmetry ◽  
Semantic Properties

AbstractThis paper argues that the Polish noun-pronoun asymmetry in which the intensifier sam ‘self’ precedes nouns and follows pronominals is not a simple case of configuration in the DP, whereby pronouns, unlike nominals, target D0 for referential reasons (cf. Rutkowski 2002, 2012). Such viewpoints, in the case of Polish, are unfortunate because they appear to underlyingly work on and draw from the syntax of nominal projections characteristic of English or Italian i.e., languages with articles. We show that the asymmetry pertains to various semantic interpretations of sam, the different semantic specification of nominals and pronominals, and the flexible word order property. What we need, therefore, is a broader clausal perspective coupled with necessary remarks on the abovementioned issues. Thus, rather than employing the DP-hypothesis, we assume two cornerstone phenomena i.e. flexible word order and rich agreement to be crucial here as they facilitate syntactic options like focalisation or topicalisation which manifest discourse information and in which sam functions as a focus or topic particle (cf. Constantinou 2014). These contexts are held typical of the asymmetry, thereby making it an interplay between semantic properties of nominal/pronominal expressions and organisation of discourse information that syntax makes available.

scholarly journals Desintegration versus Parordination bei 'obwohl'- und 'weil'- Konstruktionen

2018 ◽  
Vol 59 ◽  
pp. 57-82
Author(s):  
Werner Frey ◽  
Federica Masiero
Keyword(s):  
Word Order ◽  
Speech Acts ◽  
Discourse Markers ◽  
Main Clause ◽  
Discourse Units ◽  
Semantic Properties

In the paper, German disintegrated verb-final 'obwohl' (‘although’) and 'weil' (‘because’) clauses are compared with constructions in which 'obwohl' and 'weil' precedes clauses with main clause word order. The former constructions constitute independent, yet subsidiary speech acts. Thus, the subordinating connectors and the positioning of the verb do not indicate syntactic but textual dependency. The latter constructions are of a very different kind. Here, 'obwohl' and 'weil' do not form a constituent with the following clause. Instead, they appear as syntactically independent discourse markers connecting two discourse units. As discourse markers, 'obwohl' and 'weil' obtain their special syntactic and semantic properties as elements of the derived, but independent module of Thetic Grammar.  

scholarly journals Verb class, case, and order: A crosslinguistic experiment on non-nominative experiencers

Linguistics ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 54 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne Temme ◽  
Elisabeth Verhoeven
Keyword(s):  
Experimental Study ◽  
Word Order ◽  
Structural Differences ◽  
Transitive Verbs ◽  
The Asymmetry

AbstractIn several languages, non-nominative experiencers tend to appear early on in utterances, which frequently triggers deviations from the preferred word order. These observations are based on linearization preferences, which in most cases involve gradient levels that cannot be determined precisely through singular intuitions. This article presents a crosslinguistic experimental study on languages with different word order properties (German, Greek, Hungarian, and Korean), offering precise estimates for the effects of experiencer objects on linearization. The findings reveal a strong effect of case in the sense that dative experiencers appear more frequently early in an utterance than accusative experiencers. Based on the specific properties of the investigated languages, we are revising previous hypotheses about the source of the dative/accusative asymmetry and conclude that the asymmetry relates to phrase-structural differences. Accusative experiencers are fronted more frequently than patients of canonical transitive verbs. We argue that this phenomenon relates to a preference for selecting experiencers as aboutness topics, which explains the fact that

scholarly journals Verb-Initial versus Subject-Initial Clauses in Greek: Eventuality Existentials versus Predication Clauses

2013 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 279-322
Author(s):  
Yoryia Agouraki
Keyword(s):  
Word Order ◽  
Second Order ◽  
Semantic Interpretation ◽  
Order Property ◽  
Complementary Distribution ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Syntactic Derivation ◽  
Semantic Distinction

The paper aims to describe (a) the distribution, (b) the semantic interpretation and (c) the semantic and syntactic derivation of verb-initial versus subject-initial clauses in Greek. Concerning (a), it is argued that the verb-initial and the subject-initial word orders are in complementary distribution. A particular numeration can be assembled in only one way, i.e. as a verb-initial or as a subject-initial word order. The properties of the numeration that play a role in determining the word order for that numeration include the syntactic type of the predicate, the presence or not of non-arguments, the presence or not of sentential operators, and the mode of presenting information. Concerning (b), it is proposed that the semantic interpretation of verb-initial versus subject-initial clauses can be described as a clause-type distinction between eventuality existentials versus predication clauses. Concerning (c), it is proposed that this clause-type distinction has to do with how the subject and the predicate are put together semantically/syntactically. Namely, it is proposed that in eventuality existentials (the entity denoted by) the subject saturates/is selected by (the property denoted by) the predicate, while in predication clauses it is (the property denoted by) the predicate that saturates/is ‘selected’ by (the second-order property denoted by) the subject. For the proposed analysis to be right, (a) the clause-type distinction between eventuality existentials and predication clauses, (b) the complementary distribution of the two clause types and (c) the semantic/syntactic derivation for the two clause types must be part of UG. What cannot be part of UG is the syntactic manifestation of this semantic distinction across languages.

scholarly journals Interpreting Silent Gesture: cognitive biases and rational inference in emerging language systems

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marieke Schouwstra ◽  
Henriëtte de Swart ◽  
Bill Thompson
Keyword(s):  
Experimental Data ◽  
Experimental Evidence ◽  
Word Order ◽  
Bayesian Model ◽  
Cognitive Biases ◽  
Inductive Inference ◽  
Natural Languages ◽  
Constituent Order ◽  
Rational Inference ◽  
Semantic Properties

Natural languages make prolific use of conventional constituent-ordering patterns to indicate ‘who did what to whom’, yet the mechanisms through which these regularities arise are not well understood. A series of recent experiments demonstrates that, when prompted to express meanings through silent gesture, people bypass native language conventions, revealing apparent biases underpinning word order usage, based on the semantic properties of the information to be conveyed. We extend the scope of these studies by focusing, experimentally and computationally, on the interpretation of silent gesture. We show cross-linguistic experimental evidence that people use variability in constituent order as a cue to obtain different interpretations. To illuminate the computational principles that govern interpretation of non-conventional communication, we derive a Bayesian model of interpretation via biased inductive inference, and estimate these biases from the experimental data. Our analyses suggest people’s interpretations balance the ambiguity that is characteristic of emerging language systems, with ordering preferences that are skewed and asymmetric, but defeasible.

The Acquisition of Mandarin Modal Verbs by English Speakers

2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (8) ◽  
pp. 1637 ◽  
Author(s):  
Haiyan Wang
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Word Order ◽  
Native English Speakers ◽  
Functional Category ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Written Discourse ◽  
Modal Verbs ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
Teaching Chinese ◽  
Semantic Properties

This article aims to investigate the acquisition of Chinese modals by native English speakers based on the production materials in written discourse. The results show that the functional category is accessible to the L2 learners. Their knowledge of the semantic properties of the modals is impaired, as exemplified by the errors: omission, redundancy, word order and misuse. The finding is in conformity with the Interface Hypothesis (Tsimpli & Sorace, 2006). Finally, the article explores the implications of this study for teaching Chinese as a foreign language.

Processing cost and its consequences

2016 ◽  
Vol 39 ◽  
Author(s):  
William O'Grady
Keyword(s):  
Word Order ◽  
Proximity Effects ◽  
Processing Cost

AbstractI focus on two challenges that processing-based theories of language must confront: the need to explain why language has the particular properties that it does, and the need to explain why processing pressures are manifested in the particular way that they are. I discuss these matters with reference to two illustrative phenomena: proximity effects in word order and a constraint on contraction.

Phrase-Learning in Deaf and Hearing Subjects

1967 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 600-605 ◽  
Author(s):  
Penelope B. Odom ◽  
Richard L. Blanton
Keyword(s):  
Word Order ◽  
Fifth Graders ◽  
English Word ◽  
Normal Hearing ◽  
Twelfth Graders ◽  
Memory Processes ◽  
Study Test ◽  
The Mean

Two groups each containing 24 deaf subjects were compared with 24 fifth graders and 24 twelfth graders with normal hearing on the learning of segments of written English. Eight subjects from each group learned phrasally defined segments such as “paid the tall lady,” eight more learned the same words in nonphrases having acceptable English word order such as “lady paid the tall,” and the remaining eight in each group learned the same words scrambled, “lady tall the paid.” The task consisted of 12 study-test trials. Analyses of the mean number of words recalled correctly and the probability of recalling the whole phrase correctly, given that one word of it was recalled, indicated that both ages of hearing subjects showed facilitation on the phrasally defined segments, interference on the scrambled segments. The deaf groups showed no differential recall as a function of phrasal structure. It was concluded that the deaf do not possess the same perceptual or memory processes with regard to English as do the hearing subjects.

Word Order

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jae Jung Song
Keyword(s):  
Word Order
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